Bloomberg's in-house economists say Russia is likely to resume buying foreign currency for its reserves as soon as this month.
- “The volumes of FX purchases will be small initially, but highly symbolic as they will show that the country instead of eating through reserves is building them.”
Citing rising oil earnings helping to steady public finances. despite US and European efforts to squeeze Kremlin income:
- energy revenues now close to exceeding their target level
- Bloomberg Economics estimates initial volumes could amount to the equivalent of around $200 million in yuan per month
- The Chinese currency is the main asset Russia can still use to conduct transactions for its $154 billion wealth fund because of sanctions.
- An announcement from the Finance Ministry is due later this week.
Bloomberg is gated, but here is the link if you can access it.
